


Princes and Idols

by Vesperbat



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 11:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12840261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperbat/pseuds/Vesperbat
Summary: As Rei and Minako watch a pair of amateur idols perform, they consider whether princes are all that useful in the first place -- especially when they just keep dying.





	Princes and Idols

**Author's Note:**

> Mostly manga, with a shade of Crystal/musical/game canon (going off the idea that the Guardian Soldiers and the Four Heavenly Kings did have some kind of romantic connection in past lives).

“Usagi’s Prince Charming gets to live forever, but ours all bit the dust. Kind of messed up, huh?”

Rei glanced over, uncertain what kind of expression she would be met with. Was their relaxing afternoon at the park about to get a lot less relaxing? It turned out to be a wide grin plastered over Minako’s face, as if she’d just misfired another turn of phrase. Rei untensed. “Oh? I thought we agreed that we didn’t need any men.”

For a time, Minako watched the girls in the distance, a pair of amateur idols performing next to a boombox in their white, fluffy dresses. They weren’t very good, but they were putting their heart into it. Rei could appreciate that – when she could get past the second-hand embarrassment. Cinderella and diamond earrings, a prince with starlit eyes… it was hard to believe she’d once been swept away by nonsensical lyrics like these. These girls were… what, sixteen?

Well. At least someone still got to have dreams. If there were a monster around, it would go for one of them first thing.

“Not if they’re just going to get themselves killed,” Minako said. She grinned at Rei, but as she turned back to the show, it slipped. “You were right, you know. They really are useless.”

“I never said...” Rei paused. Maybe she did. She said a lot of things. She leaned a little closer, pressing her shoulder against Minako’s.

“I’m okay.”

“You’re not okay.”

Minako exhaled. “It’s just the way things are.”

“I’d tell you not to get attached, but…” Rei closed her eyes. It wasn’t even Jadeite in her head, and maybe that was the funniest joke of all. It didn’t take death for a man to leave you, and she had thorns in her heart much fresher than those from a life so far away it might have been a dream. The trouble was, Minako did, too. Minako had lived several more lives, and she had several more thorns to show for it.

“We’re still human… debatably,” said Minako. She stretched out her arm and made a show of examining her nails, which she had polished in a soft orange, the shade of a flirty cocktail. It wasn’t far off from the one that crept over them each time she transformed, before the smart white gloves encased her fingers. Maybe this was just her way of solidifying her dissonant selves, the way Usagi’s hair had grown and grown the night her body recalled its former identity. Usagi didn’t have a choice, but you could say Minako didn’t either – not the way she viewed it.

Rei had long since come around to her perspective.

“Don’t bring _that_ debate up,” was all Rei said, laying her hand over Minako’s. “I’m pretty sure we fought an entire war over that one.”

“Or we will, anyway. That time travel stuff is so confusing. Reincarnation I can accept, but time travel...” Minako puffed out her cheeks. “Can’t it just be the future, already?”

Rei grinned a cruel grin. “What, all ready to give up your years of carefree youth?”

“Well, alright, then!” Minako flipped Rei’s hand over and grabbed it tight. “We’re going to take full advantage of our youth, starting right now, before we have to give it all up and save the world again. We’ll form an idol duo, return to the stage, and- what?”

Rei stared, wide-eyed, and couldn’t fight the blush.

“Seriously, _what_?” asked Minako, blinking and squeezing her hand.

“I just… for a second, I almost… thought we could.” Rei looked down, shaking her head a little. It must have been harder for Minako, but Rei had never taken that dream seriously to begin with. Not really. She knew her place was with the shrine, at least until the future chose to arrive.

“Then… maybe we can,” said Minako. That glint in her eye looked... serious. “And you know what else is good about being an idol?”

“What?” asked Rei.

“An idol's prince can't die, 'cause an idol's prince isn't real to begin with.”

Rei nodded. "But, you know, I wonder what kind of scandal it would be..."

"When they find out we're the beautiful guardians of love and justice?" asked Minako, shooting Rei a peace sign with her free hand. The gravity flickered out of her mood as quickly as it came.

"When they find out we don't need a prince because... we have... each other." With each word, Rei leaned in closer. Close enough to smell the citrus of Minako's lip cream. And then she sprang back, a bird that startled itself with the sound of its own wings. She wrapped her arms around herself, as red as the planet her soul was born from. "You know. As soldiers."

Whatever Minako brought out in her, it had nothing to do with princes.


End file.
